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an NGO and for dinner to our center. We prepare dinner for about 45 to 50 women
like her everyday. We ourselves are from this area. In 2001, HIV and AIDS
entered our lanes. Women fell sick, and many were pushed into the streets. They
had not eaten for days, let alone digest[ed] the medicines, which were being
handed out.
(Sonavane, 2007, Red Light Despatch p. 4, Vol. 1, Issue 4)
Brown (2000) explains it is expected that workers on the gali will suffer from an early
infection of HIV/AIDS. If the girl is bought into the trade as a virgin, then the chances
of infection become very high because she is forced to have unprotected sex for a higher
price. Workers face situations where forced sexual activities are commonplace, and they
become the easy target of gang rapes or severe beatings if they do not provide services.
Often workers on the gali represent the residue of years of exploitation in brothels. Once
their diseased status makes them a liability (in other words, signs of HIV are too
physically evident) they are no longer attractive to clients and are evicted. Generally,
these evicted workers end up trading on the gali where they sell their bodies for a
minimum price just to survive. In rare cases they may be fortunate enough to have saved
some money or have the support of children or a husband. In these cases they might
access shelter for their sick bodies; otherwise they die on the gali. 56
56 Gupta (2006) suggests that the between the age of 30 to 35 many women have no buyers of prostituted
sex. They therefore have no income; have two or three children, and disease ridden bodies. At this point
they are cast out onto the gali. They cannot afford food, and have no access to toilet facilities.
52 52